William W. Momyer

William Wallace Momyer (23 September 1916-10 August 2012) was a US Air Force General who commanded the Seventh Air Force during the Vietnam War and served as Deputy MACV Commander for Air Operations.

Biography
William Wallace Momyer was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma in 1916 and was raised in Seattle, Washington, and he joined the US Army Air Corps in 1938. In 1942, he took command of the 33rd Fighter Group, which took part in Operation Torch in North Africa during World War II. He was replaced in October 1943 due to a racism controversy (he attempted to separate the Tuskegee Airman from his command), and he did not hold another combat comamand for the rest of the war. From 1946 to 1949, he served with the Tactical Air Command, and he commanded the 8th Fighter-Bomber Wing before entering the Air War College in 1949. From 1964 to 1966, he served as commander of the Air Training Command, when he was appointed Deputy Commander for Air Operations for MACV. He was thus responsible for Operation Rolling Thunder, which he executed on the orders of President Lyndon B. Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. He retired in September 1973, and he died in 2012 at the age of 95.